Question

american sonnet
we do not speak like petrarch or wear a hat like spenser
and it is not fourteen lines
like furrows in a small, carefully plowed field
but the picture postcard, a poem on vacation,
that forces us to sing our songs in little rooms
or pour our sentiments into measuring cups.
we write on the back of a waterfall or lake,
adding to the view a caption as conventional
as an elizabethan woman’s heliocentric eyes.
we locate an adjective for the weather.
we announce that we are having a wonderful time.
we express the wish that you were here
and hide the wish that we were where you are,
walking back from the mailbox, your head lowered
as you read and turn the thin message in your hands.
a slice of this place, a length of white beach,
a piazza or carved spires of a cathedral
will pierce the familiar place where you remain,

select two statements that best express how the first stanza contributes to the meaning of the poem.

1. the stanza explains the conventions that americans should follow when writing postcards.
2. the stanza indicates that the speaker plans to write this poem in the same form as a european sonnet.
3. the stanza describes characteristics of sonnets to introduce a comparison with postcards in the next three stanzas.
4. the stanza includes the first use of “we” that implies that the speaker and other postcard writers share the same ideas.
5. the stanza shows dislike for european poets to emphasize the preference for american poets in the next three stanzas.

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze each statement:

1. The first stanza says "We do not speak like Petrarch... and it is not fourteen lines" (Petrarchan sonnets have 14 lines, so it explains American postcard - writing conventions, so this is correct.
2. The stanza says "we do not... wear a hat like Spenser...", it's about not following European sonnet forms, not planning to write a sonnet, so this is incorrect.
3. The first stanza describes sonnet characteristics (14 lines, Petrarch/Spenser style) to introduce a comparison with postcards in later stanzas, so this is correct.
4. The first stanza uses "We" but later stanzas talk about "you", so it doesn't imply shared ideas with other postcard writers, incorrect.
5. The stanza says "we do not..." (not disliking, just not following), so incorrect.

So the correct statements are 1 and 3.

Answer:

1. The stanza explains the conventions that Americans should follow when writing postcards.
2. The stanza describes characteristics of sonnets to introduce a comparison with postcards in the next three stanzas.